542 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



into deeper water, and this proceeded, until finally some adventurous spirits went below the light- 

 house and invaded Long Island Sound. 



Incessantly swept by the steady and rapid outflow of the Quinnipiac and Housatonic (whose 

 currents flow eastward), the hard sandy bottom of that part of Long Islaud Sound is kept clean 

 throughout a considerable area, beyond which is soft, thick mud. There are reefs and rocks 

 scattered about, to be sure, and now and then patches of mud ; but over large areas extends only 

 a smooth, unencumbered bottom of sand or gravel, peculiarly adapted to ostreaculture. 



This unlooked-for expansion of the business caused considerable excitement. It was seen, in 

 the first place, that existing statutes would not fit all exigencies, and alterations and amendments 

 rapidly followed one another, in which the conflicting interests of the heavy deep-water cultivators 

 and the small inshore owners were sought to be harmonized. Although recognized by law and 

 acknowledged by clear heads since the earliest times, the rights of proprietorship under the water, 

 and the notion of property in the growth and improvement ensuing upon ground granted and 

 worked for ostreaculture, have hardly yet permeated the public mind and become generally 

 accepted facts. Cultivators of all grades found many and many instances in which their staked- 

 out ground was reappropriated, or the oysters upon which they had spent a great deal of time 

 and money were taken, upon some flimsy pretext, by their neighbors even, who angrily resented 

 any imputation of stealing. 



One plea under which a vast amount of this sort of stealing and interference with proprietary 

 rights granted by the State was perpetrated or sanctioned by the majority of the watermen was 

 that the locality in question was " natural ground." At the same time any definition or restriction 

 of such ground was impracticable and was resisted by these complainants. The only resource for 

 the man who had invested money in oyster culture, and wanted the opportunity to develop his 

 investment, was to declare that no "natural oyster ground" existed in New Haven Harbor, and 

 that designations past and to come were valid, even though the areas so designated might once 

 have been natural oyster beds. This checkmated the men who "jumped claims," yet refused to 

 be considered thieves; but it caused a tremendous howl against the movers. 



Under these rapid and far-reaching developments the New Haven oyster business soon 

 expanded beyond the limits of shallow water, until now the hopes of all cultivators of any con- 

 sequence are centered upon the deep-water ground, to which the inshore tracts are held as subsid- 

 iary, being largely used only as nurseries wherein to grow seed for the outside beds. 



The process by which a man secures a large quantity of land outside has been described. It 

 is thought hardly worth trying unless at least 20 acres are obtained, and many of the oyster 

 farmers have more than 100. These large tracts, however, are not always in one piece, though the 

 effort is to get as much together as possible. He obtains the position of the ground, as near as he 

 can, by ranges on the neighboring shores, as described in his leases, and places buoys to mark his 

 boundaries. Then he places other buoys within, so as to divide his property up into squares an 

 acre or so in size. In this way he knows where he is as he proceeds in his labors. Having done 

 this, he is ready to begin his active preparations to found an oyster colony. 



The bottom of the sound opposite New Haven, as I have said, is smooth, hard sand, with occa- 

 sional little patches of mud, but with few rocks. The depth varies from 25 to 40 feet. This area 

 is almost totally void of life, and no oysters whatever were ever found there until "dumps" were 

 made outside the light-house by the dredging boats which had been cleaning out the channel and 

 deposited many living oysters along with the other dredgings in the offing. These dumps very 

 soon became, in this way, oyster beds, supplying a considerable quantity of seed, which was public 



